The King's Treason
by All-Kristanna
Summary: This is my first multi-chapter fanfic,set 10 years after the Great Thaw. This is a story about a well-established love, the hard decisions we must face as we continue through adulthood, and addresses a number of darker life issues as the story progresses. I hope you find this glimpse into my extrapolation of the Frozen universe enjoyable. I own none of the Frozen characters.
1. Chapter 1: Promises

Chapter 1: Promises

 _How did this happen?_

Kristoff lay in the snow, writhing in pain. The load of ice lay on his right leg, both pinning him to the earth and, based on the pain he was feeling, having broken his leg somewhere below the knee.

He screamed out, partially in pain, partially in hope that despite the howling wind and snow surrounding him, someone would hear, someone would come and help him. Never had he felt so hopeless and helpless. His cries were punctuated by curses and he swore violently at his new horse Skadi.

 _Sven would never have done this – he was better than any fucking horse!_

His thoughts turned to Anna… to Christopher, Lars, and Idun… and amid his howls of pain and begging whichever deity would listen to send him aid, he cried. As the cold began to settle into him he realized that this just might be the end.

 _Four weeks earlier…_

It was mid-January, and the sky was dark by 4:00 in the afternoon. Between the grey pall of clouds which had hung over Arendelle for nearly a week and the time of year, daylight hours were short and precious. A fire was burning in the hearth, heating the drawing room of the apartment, and Anna was sitting beside it busying herself with a needle and thread, trying desperately to mend the last of Kristoff's harvesting gear before he left in the morning for his next seasonal trip.

Anna knew that the children were all with their tutors for another hour or so, and then the family was to gather for an early dinner together. What she didn't know was what was taking Kristoff so long to come back from the stables.

He had been complaining for seeming ages now that none of the horses made available to him to haul his sleigh were worth the oats they were fed. Indeed, since Sven had died three years earlier, no beast of burden could measure up. They were either too fast, too slow, too stupid, too obstinate or too – well, too much not like Sven. Kristoff had begged for the chance to train another reindeer, and while the two he had tried fared better in his estimation than a horse, they were none of them Sven.

His latest horse, Skadi, was a recently broken filly. Kristoff had hoped that getting a younger horse would mean that he had the chance to train it to follow his commands better. He had been working with Skadi since September, and rare was the day when he didn't at least mutter something about how useless she was, and that it'd be a miracle if she didn't charge over the edge of a cliff, sleigh and himself in tow.

He had promised Anna that after he had taken care of the sleigh, packed his supplies and tools and fed Skadi, he'd be up to relax with her and the family before dinner. Anna looked at the clock and sighed. It was now closing in on 4:30, and she had hoped to spend just a little time with him alone before the children were released from their studies. She flipped his sweater inside-out to finish off the thread and laughed. Why he insisted on wearing this old rag every season escaped her. She had gotten him multiple new sweaters as well as other garments, but they never seemed to really suit him. He'd wear them, of course, but whenever he went out to work, he always gathered the same few articles together to wear. He claimed they brought him luck, and considering he had managed to avoid major accidents thus far, who was Anna to argue.

She flattened the material across her lap where she had made the newest patch. Satisfied that this mend would last the next few weeks, she began to gather up the spools of thread, scissors and needles.

The creak of their apartment's main door came as a familiar and welcome sound. Anna shuffled her sewing off her lap and jumped off the chair to greet her husband. In the process, spools of thread went flying everywhere.

"Darn! Darn, darn, darn, darn!"

"Hello?" came a tentative voice from the foyer.

"I'm in here!"

Kristoff rounded the corner to see Anna on all fours reaching beneath the chair to grab a particularly errant spool of thread. He stopped short seeing her in this position.

"Um, do you think this is really the time to do this? Won't the kids be back soon?"

"Huh? What? No… NO! Kristoff, I dropped some thread."

"Sure you did, Feistypants." Kristoff ambled over to her.

Anna sat up on her knees. "There. See? Told you!" she announced as she held up the thread triumphantly.

Kristoff stood immediately behind her and bend over. "Congratulations! You win the prize!" He nearly doubled himself over to kiss her. Anna tilted her head back to aid in his approach, and reached up to his hair, pulling him in ever so gently for good measure.

"Mmmm. I've missed you," he purred.

"I've missed you! But is that really all my prize is going to be?"

"Nah, that's just a teaser. Wail until later," he winked.

"I've got your gakti all patched up. Seriously, Kristoff, I think this is going to be the last year you get out of this thing."

"Nonsense! It's the only one I've ever had, and it's the only one I ever will have."

"OK…" she responded. But her tone warned that she disagreed. "How's everything with the sleigh and Skadi?"

Kristoff huffed. "I'm done with that damned horse. She's as stubborn as a mule. Next year, I'm going to have one of those young reindeer ready to go if it kills me."

"Next year? I thought we discussed the possibility of you taking on a more clerical role next year."

"Anna, we discussed it. I never agreed to it."

"Kristoff, you can't keep doing this forever."

"There are plenty of harvesters much older than me."

"And I would guess that very few of them are married to the second in line to the throne." Anna got up from the floor and began to gather her sewing supplies again.

"Well, _obviously_ , but what am I going to do, Anna? Sit all day behind a desk like some stuffed shirt?"

Anna wouldn't even look at him. "Maybe you could consider your family."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Kristoff was clearly hurt by her remark.

She continued to collect her work and place it all tidily back in the closet. "Nevermind. I'm sorry I said anything."

"Um, no… that's not a 'nevermind.' That's a 'we had better talk this out right now.'"

Anna closed the closet door heavily. Spinning around to finally face him, she blurted "Kristoff, every season someone gets hurt really badly. Sometimes they lose a limb. Sometimes they are half torn open. And we all know that every couple of years…" The words caught in her throat.

Kristoff strode toward her and enveloped her in his arms.

Anna whispered into his neck, "… someone dies, Kristoff."

They stood there holding one another for a moment. The fear of loss had always been Anna's biggest concern. She figuratively lost her sister at a young age. She lost her parents as a teen. She lost her innocence and naiveté at a point in her life that she thought she had lost everything. Considering things had been so wonderful these last years, she couldn't bear the thought of returning to that loss. Especially if it were of her true love.

Kristoff pulled back just far enough to gently place his hands on her cheeks and stare into her eyes. "I'm not going anywhere, Anna. I promise I'll be fine." His face turned up into a gentle smile.

The tears were still setting in Anna's eyes, but she returned the smile, shook her head, and pulled him close again. "When you return, I really want to talk more about this. OK?"

Kristoff took a deep breath. "OK. I promise."

The evening was full of the normal routine. The children came bounding into the apartment escorted by their tutor, and Idun charged at her papa and jumped into his arms squealing the whole while. The boys, trying desperately to be more manly and "grown-up" settled for a quick hug and hair tousle before running to their rooms. Kristoff carried his littlest to the sofa and sat down with her.

"Papa, you still go tomorrow?" Idun asked as she played with her father's hair.

"Yeah. That OK with you?"

"No. Stay."

"Papa's got to go do his job."

"You're job is my papa!"

"Papa has another job, too. I have to go cut ice, remember?"

"And see the trolls?" Idun was always looking for a reason to bring the trolls into conversation.

"Probably not this trip, sweetheart. I want to get up the mountain and back so I don't miss you!"

Anna sat beside them on the sofa. Her heart was breaking. How could she convince Kristoff that he was needed at home far more than on the lakes? She knew that this was a passion of his. She knew that this was the only thing he ever did by himself. She also knew that it was wildly dangerous and that she'd never be able to cope without him in her life. But the children. They nearly worshipped him. He played with them, he sang with them, he read with them (albeit his reading was only slightly better still than Christopher's, having only learned as much as he had needed prior to their courting). Their world would come crumbling down. Just like hers did so many years ago…

"I come."

"No," Kristoff laughed, "We'd spend all our time playing with you if you came and not get our work done!"

" 's OK. We build snowman."

Kristoff looked over at Anna and smiled. "Hmmm, sounds like you've been talking with momma again."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Anna smirked.

"Papa?" Lars called as he ran into the room. "How long are you going for this time?"

Kristoff looked sheepish. "Not sure. We're getting a late start this season."

"Will you be back in time for my birthday?"

"Your birthday is in April. I'm sure of it."

Anna reached out to Lars and escorted him onto her lap. "You know that papa always makes it home for your birthday. Why are you worried?"

"'cause I don't want him to miss it."

Anna could see the pain on Kristoff's face. "Hey, isn't it dinner time soon? I understand that the cooks have made one of papa's favorite meals!"

"Roast pork?" Lars shouted.

Anna nodded.

"Like Christmas!" Idun added.

"Yup, just like Christmas," Kristoff assured. "And hopefully with lots of carrots for everyone!"

"Ugh," came a voice from behind them. "Carrots again?" Christopher was not a particularly fussy child, but carrots, much to his father's chagrin, were very low on his list of approved vegetables.

"Aw, c'mon buddy, carrots are good for you."

"Uh-huh…" Christopher was unconvinced.

"Someday you'll be eating your carrots and think, 'gosh, my father was right,'" Kristoff rebuked.

"I'll let you know when that happens."

The family gathered themselves together and went to the dining room where Elsa was already waiting for them. Dinner was of the usual sort. Boisterous conversation from the children talking about the day's events, regular admonishments to eat more, talk less, some light political discussion, tentative planning for the upcoming spring festivals, and the like.

But try as she might, Anna wasn't able to hide from Elsa the fact that she was troubled. A quick knowing glance from Elsa made Anna realize that she wasn't hiding her emotions as she would have liked. In a moment of panic, she looked at Kristoff who also seemed to have noticed her furrowing her brow.

"So when are you leaving tomorrow, Kristoff?" Elsa's question caught him off guard.

"Oh, um, well probably as early as possible. It takes most of the day to get up there."

"You know, you don't really need to keep doing this. The administration position I offered you still stands. And it pays a lot better."

"Look, Elsa, I'm really flattered you think that much of me. But I don't know if I'm the desk-sitting type."

Anna chimed in "Why don't you try it a little after you return? Then you can decide if it's right for you or not."

Kristoff looked between the two sisters. One had a pleading look. A look of hope. The other, was much more stayed, yet quizzical. He let out a deep sigh. "OK. I promise to try it. But I don't promise to like it."

Idun seemed to have caught on to more than anyone realized. "You stay home?!"

Anna's heart broke. "No, sweetie."

"We can discuss the particulars when you return. I could certainly use your good business sense helping me oversee our trade," Elsa offered.

Kristoff once again slumped into his chair. Anna knew this wasn't going to be an easy victory.

The two returned from their children's rooms, having said goodnight and goodbye. Kristoff was likely to be gone long before any of them were awake, and usually waking them was a chore unto itself, let alone waking them early.

They returned to their bedchamber and quickly ran through their evening ablutions. They both knew that this evening would be the last chance they had to make love for over a month, and they wanted to waste no time. Clothes were doffed and cast to the floor with abandon. The fire in their kisses burned with an urgency they had both nearly forgotten.

"Kristoff?" Anna moaned.

"hmpf" was all he could muster from beneath his kiss.

"I'd like to claim my prize now."

Kristoff lifted his head from her neck, looked at her with dark, hooded eyes, scooped her up, and carried her to the edge of the bed. He gently lay her naked form near the edge of the mattress, and began kissing her from her lips, to her neck, to her bosom, to her stomach, and finally, finding her center, he laved her with his tongue, drinking in her ecstasy. He teased her with first one, then two fingers, pulling her into his mouth, and when she finally cried out, hands tangled in his hair, he released her only to stand formidably over her with his manhood nearly purple with anticipation, straining at the very skin it was sheathed in.

He rubbed over her opening, teasing again, knowing that he was not likely to last long. As he entered her, he paced himself ever so slowly, making Anna much to wonder when he was ever going to reach the end. As he did, he lowered himself down to kiss her. Anna laced her fingers behind his neck, as he began to slowly thrust. At first it was long, smooth strokes, but within minutes, he had ramped up to a frenzy, thrusting as hard and fast as he was able. Anna cried out as another wave of pleasure hit her. She could feel his breath on her getting ragged, and the sweat running down his back made it hard for her to hold on. Finally, she could feel him expand one little bit more, and they both cried out each other's names and curses as he finished and she crested for a third time.

They lay as a sweaty mess for some time. No words were spoken. None were needed.

As they re-positioned themselves into a comfortable sleeping position, Anna couldn't help but get teary at the thought of him being gone again. But the warmth of his body spooned up behind her, the drug-like haze from their efforts, and his rhythmic breathing lulled her into a sleep before long.

As the clock struck 6, it was still quite dark out. Anna lay in the bed a moment before realizing that today was the day Kristoff was leaving. She rolled over to wake him.

He had already gone.

On his pillow was a note:

 _Anna,_

 _I thought it was better everyone should stay asleep. I will miss you, my love. But I promise I will be back as quickly as I can._

 _I love you._

 _Kristoff_


	2. Chapter 2: Specters

Chapter 2: Specters

 _She is so cold._

 _Where is he?_

 _Where is Kristoff?_

 _She calls out his name._

 _In the distance, a shadowy figure, obscured by the swirling snow…_

 _He calls back to her._

 _Her feet are like lead. Her breath stings._

 _He's running toward her._

 _She wants him more than anything…_

 _The ice cracks. His form disappears._

 _The sound of steel behind her._

 _Hans._

 _But what has happened? Where's Kristoff?_

 _She can't move._

 _Kristoff? Kristoff?_

 _Her voice is weak. She can't be heard._

 _He's not there._

 _He's not there._

Anna woke herself with a guttural scream. Her heart was racing. She was soaked with sweat. The blankets were in shambles. But all she heard was the steady tick-tock of the clock and her own ragged breathing.

Anna sat in the dark, willing her breathing to slow down. And then she began to sob.

This was just one more in a series of dreams she had been having. Sometimes they were on the lake, sometimes the fjord, but always the same; he fell through, never to surface again. The feeling of helplessness stayed with her for days after these dreams.

The chill of the room startled Anna back to reality. She was wet from sweating, and she was starting to shiver. She realized she needed to get up and change or she would not be warm again all night. As she stood in the bedroom, quickly exchanging her nightgown, her sight was drawn out the window to the mountains.

The sky was clear and the moon full. She could see every nuanced valley across the rugged vista of the mountains, and she knew Kristoff was among them. He had pointed out to her many times where the lake could be found among them, and Anna was pretty sure she remembered, but none of that mattered now. He was out of her sight and, as far as she could tell, in danger once again.

She knew she would pay for it in the morning, but Anna grabbed the duvet and her pillow off the bed and built herself a nest on the window seat, positioning herself so that she could look at the mountains. She was cold and uncomfortable, but she couldn't take her eyes off the mountains.

"Oh, Kristoff…" she mumbled. "Why can't you be here?"

The morning routine progressed as it normally children were fed in the apartment and then shipped off with their tutors for their morning lessons. Anna's chambermaid came shortly thereafter to help her do her hair and get dressed. Then, around ten **,** she made her way downstairs to meet with Elsa and discuss the day's appointments over coffee and a proper breakfast.

This time of year was always hard for Anna. The sun didn't rise until nearly nine, and though there was light in the sky shortly after eight, Anna found the dark, frigid mornings only too encouraging for lying in bed. When Kristoff wasn't there, she found these mornings even more difficult. But being the Queen's sister meant a great deal of responsibility. Unfortunately, after another fitful night of dreams, Anna sat staring out the window as she absentmindedly stirred her coffee.

She didn't even notice Elsa had changed her normal topic of conversation from _business at hand_ to _what's going on_?

"Anna!"

"Huh? What? Oh, sorry."

"Anna, are you alright?"

"Oh, um, well, yeah. It's nothing, really. Just didn't sleep well."

Elsa set down her fork and folded her hands in her lap. "Would you please tell me what's going on?"

Anna looked at her sister. She had changed in those last ten years from being a nervous young adult to a confident leader. She established her place in the ruling society of Europe, and the economy of Arendelle had never been better. She had a head for business and trade, and tourism had nearly doubled. Anna sighed. Here was her sister with magical powers, a good grasp of being in command, beloved by a nation, and Anna couldn't even get her husband to understand that his family needed him at home.

Anna acquiesced. "It's Kristoff."

"Is he alright? I haven't heard anything from the lake."

"No, no…I suppose he's just fine. As fine as any of the harvesters can be, considering."

Elsa knitted her eyebrows. "Considering what?"

Anna dropped her hand to the table in a great thud. "You know how dangerous it is up there! I really don't even understand why we have harvesters risking their lives up there anymore. You could just whip up all the ice we needed at any time."

"Anna, you know exactly why I don't do that."

"Yeah, but who cares? They'd find other jobs. We could offer them some kind of compensation to help them through until they learn a new trade!"

"But what about when I'm gone, Anna? Who will still know how to harvest ice when I've died?"

"You might not even die, you know. None of us know how this is going to work."

"Maybe, but that's not the point. Harvesting is a trade, learned through apprenticeship. I can't just eliminate a job for the masters and then have no apprentices. It'd be a long-term disaster."

Anna sat in reflective silence for a moment. "Don't you wish someone would just invent a way to make ice?"

"They just might. Who knows?" Elsa chuckled. "I guess I wouldn't be all that big a deal anymore, then. Would I?"

Even Anna had to smile. "Eh, you'll always be a big deal."

Both sisters giggled. It felt good for Anna to have a lighthearted moment with her sister like that.

They had always been nonexistent, but even now, they were often too few and far between.

"Anyhow, haven't you discussed my proposal with Kristoff any further?"

"Only _always_. He doesn't want to hear it."

Elsa took a long draught of her coffee. Setting down her cup, she seemed to have a thought cross her face. "What if we took the decision out of his hands?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look, where things stand right now, he's the father of one of my successors. I have a very vested interest in his well-being. I also know Kristoff. He's a perfect match for you."

Anna choked on her pastry. "And just what does that mean?"

"Neither one of you listen," Elsa replied cheekily.

Anna feigned shock, and just as quickly dropped the façade. "Continue."

"I completely agree with you. He has no need to be on that lake every winter anymore, but we also know that's what he's been doing for nearly thirty years. It's going to be difficult to convince him to just drop something which has been a part of his life for so long. So, I have a plan."

"Listening…"

"Thor Andriessen has been maintaining the registers for the past five years since Kristoff declined the position the last time it was available. While I have nothing against him personally – although his math skills are questionable – his is a position I could tinker with."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, basically, create a ruse. A bit of a non-existent issue which causes him to need to abandon his duties for this season. Since all the harvesters would be out working, there would be no time for them to decide who should take on Thor's job, so, simply, I appoint Kristoff. No one would question it; considering he's married to my sister, he'd be the logical choice. Besides, he has a real head for numbers."

"But how are you going to get Thor to abandon his post?"

"Well… we can come up with something simple. A bit of a question of his poor accounting practices, which unfortunately wouldn't be too hard to find examples, and tell him we need to speak with him here in the castle."

"Don't you think he'd be suspicious?"

"Maybe, but then, by the time he comes to be questioned, we go through the lengthy process of question and answer, and when he finally gets to return – without any reprimand, I promise – it'll be nearly time for the harvesters to come home anyway."

"And Kristoff would have spent most of his time off the ice."

"Exactly."

Anna stared at the tablecloth while she sipped at her coffee. "It might just work."

"I'll draw up Thor's summons today."

"But what if Kristoff finds out? Oh, Elsa, I don't want to lie to him. That's horrible!"

Elsa sighed. "Anna," she reached out and placed her hand on her sister's, "I agree. That's why he can't find out. None of this can be spoken to anyone else."

"I don't like this," Anna started. "But I like him on the ice even less."

"Let's look at it this way; perhaps this will buy us the time we need for him to come to his senses."

"He'll never forgive me."

"I promise, we'll be careful. And this way, Kristoff will be safe."

The harvesters had only been on the ice for about a week when the storm hit: not a literal storm, but the noise from the main cabin could have convinced the harvesters otherwise. The arrival of the royal messenger made Kristoff a bit nervous. They almost never came to the lake, and his mind raced through an unmentionable list of possible reasons they would have come. He withdrew his saw from the ice and ran a large circle behind the harvesters trying to get to the cabin as quickly as possible.

As he approached, he heard the voices.

"Can't this wait until we finish the harvest?" an obviously pissed Thor Andriessen bellowed.

"Her Majesty requests you to come at once to the castle," came the response, calm and a bit haughty.

"Has she lost her mind? We're in the middle of a short season – we need all hands working as hard and fast as we can!"

"I have direct orders from the Queen, and you are to report to her at once."

"This is horse shit! If she's trying to ruin our trade and make us have to get ice from other towns at twice the price, she's doing a great job of it!"

"Sir Kristoff Bjorgman has been appointed to cover your duties in your absence."

Kristoff stopped short in his approach, his eyes going wide.

Thor noticed Kristoff's abrupt halt. He pointed at Kristoff. "The Reindeer King? Of course! Nepotism!"

"She told me to assure you it was to make certain that the books were well maintained. She knows Sir Kristoff's abilities with numbers, and unfortunately does not share that familiarity with the rest of the harvesters."

Kristoff stood in shocked silence, mouth agape.

Thor looked at Kristoff, then at the messenger. He turned away, grumbling, "Such a bag of dicks."

The messenger chose not to engage Thor in his attitude. There would be enough time as they escorted him to the castle. "Sir Kristoff?"

"Uh…..yeaaaaaah….?"

"Your skills are needed at the ledgers. May I inform the Queen that you have accepted the post?"

"Uh….. yeaaaaaah …"

"Good. Thank you, Sir."

Kristoff stood as he watched the messenger and his guards ride away with Thor in their company. The whole of the harvesting operation had ground to a halt. _Why would she be doing this now? Elsa knows how busy we are going to be this season._

He turned to see all eyes on him. "All right, men. Back to work," he ordered, summoning what little sense of authority he could muster. He could see the look in the men's eyes. They were suspicious of him. Despite having worked among many of these same men for over half his life, true friendships rarely formed on the ice. The fact that he was married to the princess was more than many of the harvesters could take.

 _Why would he remain a harvester?_ they likely thought. _Why did he even bother working when he had no need for extra money?_

Kristoff knew this. He hated the nickname of _The Reindeer King_ because he knew it was a term of derision. He tolerated it because of his deep love for his late reindeer, Sven. But inwardly he hated the idea that his fellow harvesters thought differently of him because of his royal connections. He was still just Kristoff Bjorgman of nowhere in particular. He just happened to be lucky enough to have found Anna.

His gaze passed over the group of harvesters returning to their work. He would need to learn names and fast. Already he was familiar with big Johann and little Johann. Heinrich, Gunnar, and Herbjørn had all been harvesting since about when Kristoff had begun. New on the team was Hans. Kristoff had to work hard to not hate him early on purely because of his name, but Hans was a hard-working sixteen-year-old **,** green but determined, and that earned Kristoff's respect. Nicolas and Pavel were also diligent, but kept to themselves. Kristoff often wondered if they were a couple as they tended to always work side-by-side and shared a lot of their equipment and a tent. But these were things that weren't asked about on the ice.

And then there was Edvard. Though Kristoff had never found himself easily able to trust people, he also had come to realize over the last decade that not all people were bad. In fact, he had gone from trying to always remind himself that not all people were untrustworthy for Anna's sake, to feeling that he owed himself and everyone else the benefit of the doubt that they were working in the best interest of each other.

He didn't feel this way about Edvard. For some reason, Edvard needed watching.

Maybe it was how he spent more time talking than working. Maybe it was how he was always last to get up, first at dinner, or nursing some injury. Maybe it was how he seemed to spend a huge amount of time with the younger harvesters horsing around. And that was what bothered Kristoff the most.

He watched Edvard walk back to the ice and give young Hans a pat on the back. Kristoff didn't want to admit why, but it made him bristle. He felt the bile rise in his throat as a specter of the past come to the fore of his mind. _Not on my watch…_

And it made him even more upset when he had to turn to enter the cabin to look over the ledgers and try to figure out what Thor had been doing, and why Elsa was so upset with him.

"You owe me one, Elsa."


	3. Chapter 3: Lies

Chapter 3: Lies

"135… plus another 135… that's… 270? Yeah. 270. That's from Friday… Yesterday, another, let's see…127… plus 96… um… two… 222? No, wait… 223. OK. 223… plus 270, that's… three… nine… OK, 493. Shit. Just shy of 500. We're never gonna fill that second ice house at this rate."

Kristoff poured over the numbers once again. He was so certain that his men had been working at top speed, but they just weren't going to get the icehouses full before they expected the season to be over with this year. The hard freeze was slow to set in, and with each passing day the unknown but ultimate end of the season was drawing near. _If we get lucky and we get just an extra week of cold weather…_ But he knew there was no guarantee of this.

And his frustration was compounded. Not being on the ice himself slowed down the whole process. He was one more able body, and he knew that each person could average around 20 blocks of ice a day.

He dropped his pen and scrubbed his face with his hands. "We need to be doing 300 cakes a day!" He stopped and looked out the window. "I need to get back out there."

It had been two weeks since Thor Andriessen had been called away by Elsa. _How long is she going to keep him? This is ridiculous!_

Kristoff had spent the first couple of days trying desperately to make sense out of the ledgers. He was certain that the men were being paid incorrectly for their respective labor. The numbers Thor had been recording seemed rather round to Kristoff. And if the last two weeks were any indication, Thor had definitely been playing favorites with some of the harvesters.

But now he was more concerned about the total harvest. Between the late start, fewer men on the ice, and the morale of the men damaged by what they saw as interference from the _Ice Queen_ herself meant that they would certainly run out before the cold weather returned. He defended her on multiple occasions, telling harvesters regularly that if she actually would interfere like this, there must be something amiss. He wasn't certain he believed himself but he trusted Elsa. He had to. They were family.

Kristoff's head pounded. Being hunched over, staring at numbers with a dim lantern, and stress had conspired to tie his neck into knots. He wanted desperately to just don his gear and jump out on the ice, but he knew better. It was always the injured, sick, or tired who fell through. He couldn't risk it. The only answer was to lie down for a short bit, and then maybe he could help.

He lowered the wick in the lamp and trudged over to the cot which was behind a partition. Flopping down, he could barely keep his eyes open from the pain, and he knew that if he just gave it a while…

 _It's so cold._

 _Where is he?_

 _Kristoff?_

 _She runs down the stairs. Kristoff?_

 _Out into the courtyard and across to the stables. Kristoff?_

 _Sven is gone. The sled is gone. Kristoff?_

 _The snow is falling harder._

 _What's that? On the fjord?_

 _She runs to it. It's hard to run._

 _She loses sight. It reappears through the squall._

 _She approaches._

 _His hat._

 _Kristoff?_

 _Where has he gone?_

 _She bends to pick up the hat._

 _She can't._

 _It's half-frozen in the ice._

 _She looks around._

 _She's lost all sight of land._

 _Just her._

 _On the ice._

"Mamma?"

Anna startled awake. There, standing bedside, staring at her were a pair of brown eyes full of concern.

"Idun, honey? What are you doing awake?"

"I can't sleep. When's Pappa coming home?"

Anna's heart broke. "As always, sweetie. Just before your birthday."

"You sure?"

"Of course. Now, here, hop into bed with Mamma." Anna lifted the blankets and a wiggly little girl climbed beside her and nestled tightly into her mother's frame.

"Now, get some sleep, OK, sweetie?"

"Mmm hmm."

Anna stroked Idun's hair for a few minutes. She knew it wouldn't be long before her daughter fell back to sleep. But now Anna's mind was racing. The dreams she always had when Kristoff was away were becoming more frequent. She hoped he was following Elsa's orders and working on the ledgers, but she also knew that he'd be back on the ice the second he had the chance.

Stories of young, strong men who made a poor foot placement plunging to their deaths kept crossing her mind. These young men had young families and little ones just like Idun, and now, they were gone. Wives, widowed in their twenties; Children, fatherless in infancy.

Anna pulled Idun just a little tighter. "He'll be home soon, sweetie," she whispered, mostly for her own sake.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep. But the squeaking door to the cabin was not something that would allow anyone to remain in slumber. Kristoff lay there, trying to put together his thoughts and his location when he heard it.

Someone was in the cabin. Breathing quite heavily – no, trying not to cry.

He sat up on his cot and listened for a second. Eventually the moan of a baritone voice reached his ears, followed by a ragged breath. He raked his hand over his face and wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth. It wasn't typical of an ice harvester to be crying, and all the worst scenarios started drifting through his imagination.

Slowly Kristoff got up and walked around the partition wall to the main room. There, in a heap in front of the door, was Hans. He held his face in his hands, and his body convulsed in near silence.

Kristoff scuffed his feet on purpose, trying not to scare the youth. Kristoff had seen so much of himself in this teen. He had a strong work ethic, and a love for the outdoors; but now there was something else. Something which brought horrible memories back to Kristoff. Ones he had rather had been wiped away by Grand Pabbie.

Hans snapped his head up and looked the picture of terror. It was obvious he thought he had been alone. The boy sputtered and tried to speak but a throat closed up with tears and the terror of having been caught hiding caused him to spurt forth an unintelligible string of noises that in any other situation would have made Kristoff laugh.

"Woah, woah, woah! It's ok! Hey, look at me. What's going on?"

Hans began to scramble to his feet and grab for the door handle, but Kristoff was too quick for him. Kristoff grabbed his upper arm, but the reaction he got was not what he expected.

"Don't hurt me!" Hans blurted out, voice cracking under the stress.

Kristoff quickly released his grip and cringed when he saw Hans wrap his arms around himself and step backward to the wall. Something bad had obviously happened. Kristoff knew only too well that his men never behaved like this, so he knew he needed to find out what indeed had happened.

"Hey, I'm not going to touch you, OK? Just calm down," Kristoff tried to console. "But you're not going anywhere until we talk."

Dark brown eyes full of terror stared right through Kristoff.

"Can I get you something to drink?"

No response.

"Hans?"

Hans looked away toward the only window he could have reached without going past Kristoff.

"OK. Either you sit down and talk with me, or I'm going to have to call for help. Please cooperate? I want to help you."

Hans' hollow stare returned to Kristoff who offered a half-smile. It was at that very moment when Hans' tears began to pour down his face. He was the picture of a small child trapped in a large body as he slowly collapsed and slid his back down the wall.

Kristoff lowered himself to a squatting position an arm's length away from Hans. The young man was pulled into a ball, head tucked down to his knees, not able to control the relentless sobbing. Kristoff was afraid he knew what had happened. Contrary to what Anna and Elsa thought, it was this very reason that he refused to give up the harvest every year. He just wanted to help protect those who weren't able to protect themselves from the horrid things that he knew happened at these camps. The more he considered the probability of the events which led to this encounter, the more his stomach turned. And then Hans spoke, nearly unintelligible through the sobs.

"He touched me."

The snow laid quietly on the ground, freshened by a new coat of two inches since the previous evening. Being early February, the sky was still quite dark at seven in the morning, but the borealis danced in the recently cleared sky, illuminating the frozen lake and the handful of large tents surrounding it.

No, the sun had yet to make any genuine attempt to scare the stars away, but a lone figure marched across the camp following a set of fresh tracks to the far side of the impromptu village.

"Edvard!" his voice shouted. "Edvard, get out here!"

The whole camp started to hum with the sound of men coming out of their tents, curious as to what this rather unorthodox hail was about.

Kristoff stood in front of the tent that he knew only too well belonged to Edvard. "Get out here you bastard!"

He planted his feet shoulder width apart, arms crossed tightly across his chest, breath escaping his nostrils like a dragon ready to strike. He knew that what he was about to do was going to ruin the productivity of the camp for quite a while. Possibly screw up the entire harvest. But there was no choice.

Edvard exited his tent looking like someone who held all the cards with a mask of confusion and anger on his face. "Sir Bjorgman, what may I do for you?"

"I think we both know that you've done more than enough. Care to tell me what happened with you and Hans earlier this evening?"

"Hans? I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Edvard remained cool as he looked at Kristoff.

"Don't play the fool with me, Edvard. We both know what happened," Kristoff growled.

Edvard looked around the camp. Nearly everyone had come out at this point and was watching the situation.

"I assure you, Sir, I don't. Now, if you don't mind, I need to finish getting ready for the day." The overconfident smugness of his reply made Kristoff bristle.

"He came to the cabin this last night and told me everything."

Edvard just stood there with a puzzled look on his face.

"He told me how you started a drinking game with him. He told me that he got completely drunk, and that the next thing he knew you had your hands down his trousers." Kristoff glowered at Edvard, seeing his façade begin to melt. "Does any of this sound familiar?"

"I was in my tent before most of these men were," Edvard gestured to the gathering crowd. "Ask any of them if they saw it."

"It's true," Gunnar interrupted from behind Kristoff. "You were in your tent early. But so was Hans."

Edvard started to turn a red that was visible even in the pale pre-dawn light. "Exactly what are you insinuating, Gunnar?" Edvard spat out.

Kristoff turned to see that the crowd was looking like a perfect blend of angry and satisfied that Edvard was getting called out on something.

"I'm saying that there isn't a soul here who could testify that you were in your own tent."

"Well, it's that little pisser's word against mine then, isn't it? I'd suggest you all go off you own merry way and let me do my job." Edvard snorted and spun to re-enter his tent.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me," Kristoff snarled. He reached out and grabbed Edvard by the arm to spin him around.

What Kristoff wasn't quite expecting, however, was Edvard's sudden retaliation. Before he could duck or block, Kristoff was knocked off his feet by a blow from Edvard's fist.

"Keep your fucking hands off me, Reindeer King! Up here we don't play by the rules of the court."

But before Kristoff could get back up, he witnessed something he never expected to see. Out of the periphery of his vision, he saw Nicholas and Pavel charge in and tackle Edvard to the ground. By the time Kristoff got to his feet and assessed the situation, the two harvesters had managed to not only pin Edvard to the ground, but to have him tied up.

"You are hereby charged with treason for assaulting Prince Consort Kristoff," Pavel announced with authority.

"What? Who the fuck are you, Pavel? Get over yourself," Edvard sneered from beneath the men.

"I and Nicholas are royal guards and you would do well to keep your mouth shut."

Kristoff was on the verge of interfering, when he heard this exchange. To him the whole world came to a screeching halt. He thought back to the early days of his courtship with Anna when Elsa asked him if he would mind if she had guards accompany him. She said it was for his own protection, but he didn't see where it was necessary. In fact, there had been multiple times when she and Anna had begged him to accept protection from the palace guards. He always declined. He had fended for himself for so many years he had grown quite accustomed to dealing with ruffians and shifty folk. And now he wondered exactly what had been going on all these years. Had there been someone looking over his shoulder all the time? Is that why he seemed to see the same faces in the woods when he traveled?

"Prince Kristoff, I am sorry it has come to this."

Kristoff snapped out of his daze and saw Pavel speaking directly to him.

"I am afraid that I am going to need to take Edvard back to the castle for a trial."

Try though he might, Kristoff was still shocked at the revelation. Elsa had placed royal guards among his men.

"I will try to send extra hands back up to finish the harvest for the season. Would that be acceptable, Sir?"

He couldn't respond. The feeling of confusion was slowly morphing into anger and betrayal. How could she have done this? How could she have not trusted him to take care of himself? He felt lied to. He ignored the questions from Pavel, turned around, and began walking directly back to the cabin.

The other harvesters parted way and stood there, silently watching. Those who looked closely could see his jaw set, lip trembling. They watched him march back into the cabin and slam the door. But before they realized it, he came back out, saw, axe, and tongs in his arms, and headed directly out onto the lake.

He spoke to no one that day other than to bark orders.

He was the last one on the ice that night.


	4. Chapter 4: Tomorrow

CHAPTER 4: Tomorrow

For two weeks, Kristoff spoke to almost no one. Never more than an order, never more than an answer to a question. The harvesters became very concerned with his mental state. He worked like a man possessed: early on the ice, late to the cabin, lamp lit late into the night as he maintained the books. He rarely stopped to eat or drink, and he started to look rather gaunt.

Pavel and Nicholas had followed through on their promise and brought back a few well-seasoned harvesters who had only decided to give up the vocation the previous season. They knew what they were doing, but each was worth only about half a man as far as production was concerned.

The biggest problem was that morale was low. The whole team worked steadily, but knowing that there were royal guards in their midst made them all uneasy despite Pavel and Nicholas' assurances that they had no intention of doing anything more than protecting Kristoff. None of the harvesters believed it.

Kristoff slung his last block of ice onto the sleigh for the evening. Nearly all the other harvesters had finished their loads and were practically off the lake already. The few stragglers left had formed a small cluster nearby, and despite their hushed tones, Kristoff could hear them:

 _Why don't you talk to him? He likes you._

 _Right. He won't listen to me._

 _Well we can't just keep on like this._

He _can't keep on like this. He needs to get back to his family._

Kristoff's thoughts jumped to his family. Idun's birthday was coming up in about a month. He thought of how he raced home the moment a message had come from the castle nearly four years earlier. The summons came about a month sooner than expected, but Kristoff knew that was a possibility. All the children had come a little earlier than he and Anna thought they might; Christopher by only a few days, Lars about two weeks, but his little girl followed far closer in her mother's footsteps. Impatience seemed to run in the Arendelle bloodline.

Kristoff was brought out of his reverie by the approach of little Johann.

"Sir Kristoff?"

Kristoff hated being addressed that way. Especially on the ice where he believed status had no meaning; the ice would take whomever it chose regardless of station.

"Yeah?" he responded with a heavy sigh.

"Sir, some of us have been talking…"

"I've noticed," he gruffed.

"Oh, um, well, we were thinking that maybe you should take a few days away."

"I can't." He turned back to fastening the load on his sleigh.

"Sir, we're worried about you."

"I'm fine! OK, Johann? Just leave me the hell alone!"

Herbjørn stepped up. "Hey, woah – give him a break! We're all concerned about you."

Kristoff dropped the ropes he was working with. "And I'm concerned about all of you! If we don't get this harvest done right, we're gonna run out of ice for the late summer. And if that happens, you all lose income, so don't tell me how to do my damn job!"

Herbjørn visibly bristled. "Listen Kristoff. You know you're not better than the rest of us - the ice will take you just as happily as it will take me. And if you're too fucking tired to know what to look and listen for, you'll be part of the stew in next year's blocks! So gods be damned if I'm just going to sit by here and ignore the fact that you're too stupid to realize that you're overdoing it!"

Kristoff was nose-to-nose with Herbjørn within two strides. "And who's going to stop me?"

"We all will," came a voice from behind them. Pavel and Nicolas had returned from the rest of the harvesters who had been leaving and joined in with the small band.

Kristoff looked beyond Herbjørn to see the posse looking like they intended to be certain that he would cooperate, however necessary.

"We're all worried about you."

Kristoff looked back to Herbjørn, whose eyes had softened. In his heart, Kristoff knew they were trying to protect him. He had seen too many harvesters come close to death because they were exhausted. He saw a few disappear beneath the ice never to return.

"Fine," Kristoff acquiesced. He would never have admitted it, but more than once he caught himself dozing while Skadi pulled the sled either to or from the ice houses. He had woken more mornings with his head on the writing desk in the cabin than on his pillow, so a proper rest was overdue. He knew only too well the dangers of harvesting while exhausted. "I'll head back tomorrow morning once you all are up and running again – but only for a few days!"

"That's all we ask," Herbjørn replied.

Kristoff turned, feeling the eyes of the men standing there burning holes into the back of his head. Fighting the point would have been futile. When the team made up their mind about something, it was going to happen their way. They would have dragged him back if they had to, and Anna and Elsa would see to it that he never returned. It was certainly easier to go along with them, but once again, he started feeling manipulated.

He snapped the reins for Skadi to take them off the lake.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I heard Aunt Elsa saying something today."

"Oh?"

Christopher scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure I was supposed to."

Anna looked up from her knitting. "Were you somewhere you weren't supposed to be again?"

"No! Honest!" Christopher held up his hands in a gesture of defense. "I was just in the library reading for Fru Pettersen, and Aunt Elsa came in with someone else."

"Do you know who?"

"It sounded like Herr Mikalsen."

Anders Mikalsen was a legal expert who sat on the council, Anna knew. The whole debacle with Thor Andriessen had gotten blown out of proportion. It was supposed to have been a small mock trial in which Thor would have gotten reprimanded for keeping sloppy records. The upside was that Kristoff would have taken over his duties and been kept of the ice. But with the return of the royal guards and Edvard, Anna had learned that Kristoff was on the ice more than ever. On top of that, Thor had somehow managed to earn a favor from some lawyer in the village and had arranged for a full-on retaliation against the council for having accused him of thievery. It was such a mess.

Anna lost count of her pattern stitches and flung the needles onto the cushion next to her in frustration.

How? HOW? Elsa promised it would all work out. Small, quiet, quick. Just to get Kristoff off the ice for a while. And now, it was looking like a nepotism conspiracy: one giant ploy to get Kristoff a better job within the Harvester's Guild.

"What did you hear? Or shouldn't you tell me?"

"I don't know. There was something about dad and how he couldn't just be given the job by Aunt Elsa, and that they were going to look for a legal president…"

"Precedent." Anna corrected.

"What's that?"

"Nevermind. What else did you hear?"

"Not much else. They grabbed a few books and left."

"Did they see you?"

"I don't think so? I was laying on the rug behind the couch."

Anna sighed deeply. She had been feeling more and more like this was all her fault. She just wanted Kristoff to be safe. To have him off the ice and, honestly, to be grooming him for more royal duties. Anna knew she and Elsa could manage the majority of them, but sooner or later, Kristoff would have to start making more public appearances despite his not wanting to. But then he would be home. He would be safe…

"I think everything will be just fine. Don't worry."

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Is dad going to get in trouble?"

Anna looked at her eldest boy. Bulda had told her that he was the spitting image of Kristoff at that age. She could so easily see the concern on his face, just like when she looked at Kristoff. They both tried oh-so-hard to mask when they were upset, but they never succeeded.

"No, sweetie. He's going to be just fine. He did nothing wrong." Anna genuinely believed half that statement. No, he had done nothing wrong, but to convince everyone else… that was another matter entirely. "Why don't you go wash up for dinner? I need to go check with Gerda if the plans have been finalized for the Equinox Ball," Anna asked, rising up from the couch.

"OK." Christopher began to walk toward the washroom. "Mom?" he paused and turned back to Anna. "What's treason?"

Anna's mouth went suddenly dry. "Why would you ask that?"

"It's a word I heard the man say to Aunt Elsa."

"I… um, don't have time to explain it right now, sweetie. Why don't you ask Fru Pettersen tomorrow?" Not waiting for a response, Anna turned and quickly darted out the door to their apartment.

 _Treason?_ The word sounded so ominous to her. It made no sense. _Who was being treasonous_?

She walked as fast as she could without drawing undue attention to her haste.

 _Elsa, you had better explain yourself._

Her mind raced from Kristoff to Elsa. _What happened? How could this simple plan have blown up like this? Is Elsa on top of it? Is she freaking out? Does Kristoff know? Did he find out the plan? Did the guards tell him? Elsa wouldn't have told them, would she? Elsa! Where are you?_

Room after room Anna knocked on the door and then burst in not waiting for a response. Bedroom? No. Library? No. Council meeting room? No. _Where the hell are you, Elsa?_

Anna ran down the last flight of stairs toward the great hall when she finally heard a familiar voice.

"Herr Mikalsen, I'm sorry to burden you with this. I have tried so hard to keep this all under control."

"Your Majesty, I assure you, there is nothing here to control. Even if charges are filed against the council, Thor Andriessen has practically no rapport among anyone in this kingdom who would be of use to him."

"Still," Elsa interrupted, "I want you to know that I am grateful for your help."

"You were only doing what you needed to do to protect your family. I'm sure once the whole thing is out in the open, everyone will understand and…"

"NO!"

Elsa and Anders turned their heads in the direction of the shout.

"Anna…"

"DON'T YOU DARE TELL HIM!"

"Anna, please…"

"Your highness, it's the…"

"YOU PROMISED ME HE WOULD NEVER FIND OUT! I'LL LOSE HIM, ELSA! I JUST KNOW I WILL LOSE HIM!"

Anna fell to her knees trembling. She knew Kristoff well enough to realize that if he ever figured out that she and Elsa had plotted to keep him off the ice, he would never forgive her. He was so tolerant of nearly everything life threw at him, and he was as docile with Anna as anyone ever had been. But the second he felt like he was being manipulated, his whole demeanor changed. It was her biggest fear since day one of this plan.

"You promised me he would never find out," she repeated. Her eyes filled with water, tears held back by sheer force of will.

"Anna, I…" Elsa began.

A giant tear rolled down Anna's face, her body still shaking.

The room started to turn cold. Elsa stood a moment as if her own powers had consumed her. Without looking away from Anna, she said, "Her Mikalsen, the plan has to be changed."

She slowly walked over to the small figure sitting helpless on the floor. Her footsteps were measured and gentle, as if approaching a hare. Softly, she knelt down beside her sister and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm sorry. I'll fix this," she whispered.

"I'll return tomorrow," Anders said softly.

The light was fading faster than normal. Kristoff squinted as he looked as far into the distance as he could. The dim twilight was like velvet absorbing the meager light of his lantern. The sky had turned dark grey and hung low. A light snow had begun to fall.

 _Not much longer_ , he thought. _Ditch this load, and get back to camp._

He was truly conflicted about the next couple of days. He missed his family so much. He wanted to experience the luxury of sleeping in, especially in a bed which actually fit his frame. The thought of food with flavor made his stomach flip. _Guess I'm hungrier than I realized._

Just a few days. A little break in the middle of this craziness. A chance to have a one-on-one conversation with Elsa and figure out what the hell she was thinking.

A chance to be with Anna.

To caress her face.

To feel her in his arms.

To lay with her…

He didn't know how long he had dozed off again, but he knew that he was now laying in a pile of gathering snow. The left runner of his sleigh had gone up on a rock on the edge of the road.

He shook his head, partially to shake off the snow, partially to wake himself up. _What the hell happened?_

He stood up and groaned; the pain of landing on his hip had become apparent.

"Fucking horse," he grunted.

He limped over to the sleigh to assess the situation. The sleigh was tilted high on an angle, and the size of the rock prevented just trying to use brute force to get it over. _Now what?_ Backing up the sleigh wasn't going to work. The runners were currently pointed down, and pulling the sleigh from behind would only run them into the ground.

"Are you kidding me?! I have to unload the whole damn sleigh here in the middle of the road?"

He paced back and forth trying to sleuth out an answer. As the reality of the predicament settled in, his mind started to just go blank. He hobbled over to the back end of the sleigh. Without any thought but exasperation, he threw his head and arms down on the load of ice. _Why is everything going wrong? What the hell have I done to deserve this?_

"FUCK!" he yelled, kicking the sleigh.

As if in slow motion, he first felt and then saw it happen. The ropes holding the ice had never been fully secured after he had his faceoff with the harvesters. Fifty pound cakes of ice started sliding toward him. In his panic he stood up and started to back away.

The first block caught him hard on the right shin. Falling onto his back, he watched the next cake slide down and land on top of the previous one.

It was then that he heard the snap.

Block after block tumbled toward him, pinning his right leg from the knee down under a heap of ice.

As he screamed in pain, he begged for help.

He tried to grab the nearest piece of ice and move it himself, but the angle was all wrong, and the pain in his leg immobilized him.

Tears of agony and frustration mixed as he lay in the snow, the wind whirling around him.

 _I was the last load of ice off the lake._

A block of ice shifted, renewing his misery.

 _I'm supposed to leave tomorrow._

The snow was coming down harder.

 _What if they think I left early?_

The forest seemed to close in on him. The sound of the wind was drowned out by the buzzing in his ears.

He shivered.

"I love you, Anna," he whispered.


	5. Chapter 5: Consequences

Chapter 5: Consequences

 _The wind buffeted him on every side. There was no way he could turn to avoid it._

 _He trembled - partly in fear, partly from cold._

 _Giant swirls of snow and fog enveloped him and then spit him out again._

 _The ground moved like a dinghy on the sea._

 _Another blast of wind threw him off his feet._

 _The tempest's howls formed voices – words of dread, words of urgency._

 _…cold…broken…fast…frostbite…storm…_

 _His whole body hurt. He stood again, only to be thrown to the ground._

 _"Anna?"_

 _…sleigh…rope…_

 _A white light hit behind his eyes. Pain. Excruciating pain._

 _The ground was moving. The fjord – the ice was breaking..._

 _Cold and pain. Grey palls of fog and snow._

 _He couldn't see anything._

 _…Arendelle…_

Anna paced.

The conversation she overheard ate at her soul. Kristoff was the kindest most generous man she had ever known. But she also knew that if he ever figured out that he had been being manipulated, he would be irate. There was only one option here; never let him find out that she and Elsa had been behind removing Thor from his post. Never let him realize that it was because she was trying to keep him off the ice. Never let him know that the person he trusted the most in this world was the very person who had agreed to coerce him into a secretarial position.

She paused as she looked out the window across the courtyard. A decade ago, her sister stood in the very same room looking out at her soon-to-be kingdom, uncertain of the future. But then, the sky was clear, the sun bright and the warmth of a July day was reassuring to the kingdom. Now, the darkness was growing quickly as a mid-winter storm engulfed the sky. There was nothing to be reassured about. He was up there. Another night of bad weather while _he_ – the love of her life, the father of her children – was holed up in a shack on the edge of the lake.

Anna winced in pain. Looking down, she realized that she had picked at the side of her thumbnail until it started to bleed. Instinctively, she put the wound to her mouth.

"Anna?"

Anna spun around to see Elsa standing backlit in the doorway.

"Oh, hi."

"What are you doing in here in the dark?"

Anna surveyed the room. Save for the modest glow of the small fire, the room had slipped into the darkness of twilight. Shadows had merged with their backgrounds, and the usually bright parlor had become a study in dark greys. _How long had she been in here?_ "Huh. Wasn't dark when I came in."

Elsa walked to the fire and grabbed the candle lighter. "Well, there's no need to keep it like this. We have more candles than I think we'll ever use."

Anna took the opportunity of Elsa busying herself with the candles to make certain that the bleeding on her thumb was stopping. It was an old habit for her to pick at her cuticles. It was one which she had managed to hide most of the time. The last thing she needed was for her sister to start giving her a lecture on this.

"I know. I'm just thinking."

Elsa lit the candle sconces and the oil lamps on the tables. "There. That's better."

The room was bathed in a warm yellow glow, but it did little to cheer Anna. The outside seemed all the darker and colder because of it.

As Elsa approached her sister, her practiced smile faded. Despite the complexion benefits of candlelight, it was obvious that Anna had been crying.

"Oh, Anna. I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to happen."

Anna sighed despondently, turned away, and walked toward the window. "I know you didn't."

"Listen, I've called an emergency council meeting for Thursday. I think that the only way I can minimize this is to explain to the entire council what has happened, and then swear them to the utmost secrecy. No matter what happens, Anna, I promise to bear the full brunt of the fallout."

Anna stared blindly into the night. There was no way. Kristoff would never believe that Elsa acted singularly in this. He and Anna had just gone around about this very thing days before he left. "Elsa, I appreciate this, but it won't work that simply."

"Of course it will."

"No, it WON'T!" She hadn't mean to raise her voice. Turning to face her sister incurred a double blast to her soul. The pained look on her sister's face and the knowledge of what she was about to say forced a new tear to run down her cheek. "Elsa, Kristoff and I have been having this fight for a few seasons now. He just refuses for some unknown reason to give up the life of a harvester." She threw her arms up in the air as she started to storm about the room. "He has everything, Elsa. EVERYTHING! A wife, a family, a promise of a well-paying, secure job, a freaking CASTLE, SERVANTS, FOOD, CLOTHES – WHAT IS KEEPING HIM UP THERE?"

Anna returned to the window. The room fell silent save for the crackle of the fire. "Maybe it's not what he wants."

"Anna!"

Her voice fell to a whisper. "Maybe he just wanted a quiet life, and now he's overwhelmed. Maybe… he just doesn't want to be here."

"Anna, now just stop," Elsa pleaded as she wrapped her arm around her sister. "He absolutely adores you. I've never seen anything else light up his face like when he sees you and the children."

"Then why does he keep running off to the mountain? Why does he risk his life for ice – something you could make more of than we would ever need or use?" Anna's voice trembled. She was too afraid of the answer.

"I don't know. I just don't know. But I promise to have a long talk with him the next time I see him."

Anna pulled away from her sister's embrace. "Please, just… don't. I think it will only make things worse."

"How would it…"

"Queen Elsa?"

Both women turned to look at the door of the parlor. Kai stood there, looking as if he'd seen a ghost. "Oh, good evening, Princess Anna. I… um… Queen Elsa… may I have a word with you... in private?"

"It's OK, Kai, you can tell me," Elsa replied.

"Your majesty," he stumbled, "I would feel much better if we could speak alone. No offence, your Highness."

"It's OK, Elsa," Anna reassured.

Elsa studied Anna's face. "I'll be right back, OK?"

Anna nodded and turned back to the window as her sister left the room. The final bits of grey sky were giving way to black. The whole town was dotted with meager points of light. A few of them could be seen slowly moving as carried lanterns moved about the streets. Her eyes followed the main road out of town and saw the tiniest of lights in the distance.

 _If only that were you coming home, Kristoff._

As upset and confused as she was, all she wanted was to lay in bed, him behind her, his arm over her, fit together like two parts of a whole as they watched the fire and talked. Just talked. To feel his voice resonate through his chest against her back. To stroke the back of his hand with hers. To drift into the stillest of sleep with him warm and protective behind her. As she thought, she realized that indeed, he always was just that – warm, and protective, and _behind_ her. Supportive of everything she ever did. Selfless save for this one curiosity. The lake and harvesting must hold something deep and meaningful to him that perhaps she would never understand.

Her eyes remained fixed on the distant light as it seemed to grow nearer.

Maybe the answer was to simply accept that this was a part of their life together. Kristoff didn't always make sense. He had his reindeer affinity, and the desire to wear the same clothes which had been repaired far beyond their expected life, and superstitions and habits imparted by his life with the trolls. And above all else, his desire to harvest ice. He spoke of taking Christopher out when he turned 10 – felt it was a proper age for a young man to learn some hard work. And he always came back behaving as if he had survived a wolf attack, telling stories and bragging about how he was able to out-work the new recruits. Anna knew that if something should happen to him, God forbid, he would have been doing something that he literally _lived_ for.

Her eyes were drawn to the sudden flurry of activity below in the courtyard. Guards with torches and lanterns ran to the gates as they opened. A horse carrying a rider sped out of the castle into the village. Anna was confused. The gates were almost never opened after dark.

She looked back to the horizon and couldn't find the lantern light which had been drawing nearer. Below in the courtyard, there was more activity. Castle servants were running about. In the hallway behind her she heard hurried footsteps and heavily closing doors.

A small seed of primal fear took root in the pit of her stomach. _What is going on?_

Abruptly a sleigh appeared on the bridge. It nearly erupted through the castle gates and it seemed that all the personnel in the courtyard sprang into action rushing forward, yelling orders to those who stood by.

 _Please no._

A stretcher was brought to the back of the sleigh.

 _Oh, no._

It was brief. But there, in the lamplights, she saw it. A flash of fuchsia. The color of the sash that Kristoff always wore with his gákti.

Even over the din of the hustling in the courtyard, most of the servants heard her scream.

Anna raced out of the parlor. Her thoughts were singular, _Kristoff, I have to get to Kristoff._ As she rounded the corner, she met a large contingency of castle staff coming up the staircase.

"Kristoff!"

As if from nowhere, Elsa ran around the men carrying the stretcher. "He's going to be OK, Anna. I promise, he's going to be OK."

With each passing word her composure fell apart a little more. "What happened? What's going on? Where are they taking him?"

"Anna, please," Elsa begged. "He's broken his leg."

"That's all?" she pleaded. She could only hope that was all.

As the men filed past, Anna caught glimpse of Kristoff on the stretcher. They had him wrapped in furs, but his face was a ghastly combination of ashen and red.

 _Frostbite…_

"He also has been out in the weather for quite a while. We need to get him warm as quickly as possible."

Anna rushed to get to him, but Elsa's grasp prevented her from getting too close.

"Let them get him settled in bed, and I swear to you that I will make certain you are right beside him."

Anna lost all strength in her legs as she fell into her sister's arms, sobbing.

It was as if time held still. Anna felt as close to having lost her husband as she could bear. He was home. He was alive. He was injured, but in the hands of the castle doctors.

If Anna had opened her eyes, she would have seen the gentle flurry of snow around her.

The next few hours were a blur, devoid of a sense of time or continuity. Anna remembered Elsa slowly ushering her into what was her old bedroom. She remembered seeing the near lifeless body of Kristoff lying on the bed. There had been conversation between Elsa and Pavel. Apparently he and Nicholas has realized that Kristoff hadn't returned from the ice house, so they went out to check on him. He had been half-buried in the snow and would probably had disappeared into a drift unnoticed were it not for the braying of his horse leading them to him. The bonesetter arrived at one point to examine the break. He felt it would be best to wait a few hours to allow the swelling to go down before attempting to reposition the bone. The very thought made Anna nauseated. Servants came and went with blankets heated by the fire to exchange from time to time. Another slowly dripped water into his mouth. Occasionally he would moan or cough, and Anna's eyes would open wide in the hopes that he would come around, only to once again be disappointed by his unresponsiveness.

Sometime long after midnight, Elsa brought Anna out of his room.

"You need rest."

"I can't leave him."

"His body temperature has warmed up, the bonesetter will be back first thing in the morning, and frankly, we have so much staff on hand that…"

"I said I'm not leaving him," Anna responded firmly but without the slightest bit of raising her voice. Her gaze was on the closed door to her old room.

"I will give direct orders to the staff that if he shows the slightest amount of alertness, you are to be notified regardless of what time it is."

Anna stared at the door. So many hours of her life staring at closed doors. So much time wanting to touch the person on the other side.

"Anna, your children will need you to be strong for them come morning."

She was right. Anna hated to admit it, but she was right.

"Oh, God, has anyone told them what has happened?" Sudden awareness of the situation jumped into her mind. She didn't want to think that the children had been worrying all this time.

"No. We've kept quiet about the whole thing and got them off to bed last night. Gerda is staying in the apartment with them." Elsa reached up and placed her hand on Anna's shoulder. "Anna," Elsa pleaded, "for your own health, please get some rest."

"Someone will come get me as soon as he comes around?" she asked reluctantly.

"I promise," Elsa reassured.

Anna didn't mean to be so rude, but she simply turned and slowly walked toward her apartment. She knew deep down that he would be OK, but that didn't really lift her spirits.

The rest of the walk to her apartment was deafeningly silent. Even her mind seemed to be devoid of its normal chatter, which for Anna was unnerving. She paused at one of the few hallway windows to see that the storm outside had passed, leaving its telltale pall of white over the entire kingdom. High in the sky were the curtains of green, blue, and violet light that she used to stare at for hours. Tonight, they brought her no comfort. No, tonight they were a reminder that her kingdom was one of a harsh land which didn't care who suffered. A storm took her parents. She refused to allow another to take her husband.

Upon reaching her apartment, she checked in on each of her children, kissing each of them on their head and pausing to re-cover Idun, who, as usual, had thrown the blankets off her bed and was now in a shivering little ball. She slipped into her nightshirt and crawled into bed. Managing to whisper "I love you, Kristoff. I always will," she quickly succumbed to an exhaustion she didn't even know she bore.

Sometime around 6 in the morning, Anna woke. She had been certain that she had heard voices, but now the castle seemed eerily quiet. Throwing on her robes and slippers, she stepped into her drawing room. In the darkness, she could see one of the servants squatting in front of the fireplace, stoking the coals, but otherwise nothing seemed amiss.

"Good morning, your Highness." Eric was a young lad, but highly reliable. He faithfully arrived in the mornings to get the fires going again and to bring fresh water to their apartment. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Good morning, Eric. No, I'm fine, thank you. Any word on my husband?"

"Sir Kristoff? No, afraid not."

Anna felt both relieved and alarmed. Without even thinking about it, she found herself walking back to the room Kristoff had been in last night. Before she knew it, she stood in front of the closed door covered in rosemaling. Her hand reached out to the doorknob and froze.

 _Did she want the answer? Was she ready to know?_

Her hand slowly dropped and she crossed her arms tightly against her stomach. No, she wasn't ready. The possibility of certain truths destroyed her resolve.

In the dim lantern light of the castle, Anna fled. She fled down the stairs past closed door after closed door. She had no idea what she was running from, or where she was running to. Before she could process where she was, she burst out the door into the snowy courtyard. Directly in front of her sat the chapel and without thinking, she continued to run toward it. Whether it was the cold or her emotions she couldn't tell, but tears streamed from her eyes.

Inside the chapel, Anna found the cold darkness palpable. The soft glow from the leaded glass windows gave her just enough light to not stumble into a pew. About halfway down the aisle, she stopped and took a seat. As her eyes adjusted, she could just make out the altar and its austerity.

"God, I need help," her voice cracked through her tears. "I can't do this again. First losing Elsa, then momma and papa… no, I can't lose him. Yes, Elsa is back, but I still fear being separated from her. And momma and papa, well… they're just gone. Please don't let our children not have their father. Please? I don't know what I will do without him. What will _they_ do without him? ...I'm sure he'll be fine, but… I'm scared. I'm so scared. Please help… please?"

Her voice trailed off into silence punctuated by sobs as her mind slipped into an infuriating mental loop of grief, despair, hope, begging.

She didn't know how long she sat there, but she knew it had been a while. The low winter sun had finally risen and shone through the modest windows of the chapel, illuminating the condensation of her breath. She had cried herself out, and had entered something of a trance, so she jumped when she heard her name called quietly from the back of the church.

"Princess Anna?"

She turned to see Kai.

"It's about Sir Kristoff."


	6. Chapter 6: Revelations

Kristoff lay propped up in the bed, unable to manage to string together enough memories of the past 24 hours to recall what had happened. Weariness and pain pulled him out and in of consciousness respectively. As much as he wanted to shoo them away, the relentless attention he was receiving from the castle staff was somehow comforting. He heard words and phrases which should have filled in his memory gaps, but they somehow only added to the confusion. When he was asked questions, he found himself responding with either grunts or one or two word answers, his voice a hoarse whisper.

Attempts to give him water were more often than not met with coughing. And it was that coughing which shook his leg just enough to rekindle the pain in his leg and elicit a cry of pain.

It was exactly one of those sounds which greeted Anna as she approached the now open door to Kristoff's room.

Anna froze.

The irrational fear of his being dead left her; she heard some semblance of his voice. She knew that his largest injury was a broken leg; it could have been so much worse. She wanted to run to him, embrace him, never let go.

And yet she stood there. Her feet were as lead, holding her firmly to the ground. Her heart and mind fought with one another. The sound of her husband in pain was one she was too unfamiliar with to be able to process it.

"Princess Anna?"

Anna knew Kai was worried about her. He stood there with his hand ghosting the small of her back as if to catch her if necessary.

Anna slowly nodded her head once. Then again a little faster as if to convince herself that it was ok. The motion accelerated into a shallow but rapid nod as she screwed up her courage to walk into the room and see for herself that her Kristoff was alright.

"Yes, Kai. I'm fine." She wasn't.

As she stepped forward her legs nearly went out from underneath her, but again, Kai had his hands ready to catch her.

"I'm fine, thank you," she repeated, her voice belying her.

With each painful step, her approach to the room made her head spin. Logic was gone, and despite knowing otherwise, her brain kept insisting that she would find him unresponsive, or worse, dead.

The room was quite warm with a roaring fire and thickly fragranced with camphoraceous herbs and medicines making her queasy. A couple of servants milled about keeping busy with cleaning and running errands. As she approached the bed, she was unable to see more of him than the shape of his legs beneath the bed linens; his right leg only covered by a sheet from the knee down. Blocking her view otherwise was the portly servant who tended to take on the task of aiding the ill of the castle.

As the portly servant turned, she nearly crashed into Anna.

"Oh!" she let out a yelp of surprise. "Princess Anna! I didn't realize you were there."

Anna stared past her, hardly acknowledging the near collision. Her eyes focused on the figure laying before her.

He was somehow there and somehow not. His usual ruddy cheeks were now fiery from windburn, his eyes lacked the typical sparkle and were instead dark and sunken. Were it not for the rhythmic motion of his chest, she would be certain he was dead.

"Anna?"

She tried to respond, but his name came out of her mouth choked and distorted. Falling to her knees and grasping his hand, Anna found herself unable to do any more than offer a large smile. Tears streamed down her face anew as she tried to speak again.

"I'm here, Kristoff."

"Are the kids here?" His voice was thin and breathy, but the cadence of his speech remained solid.

"No, just me," she replied.

"Good," he sighed. "I need something to get my mind off this leg. Wanna hop in bed with me?" he asked with coyly raised eyebrows and a smirk.

Anna laughed as she threw herself into his arms. It was an odd sort of laughter; she seemed to alternate between laughter and tears so quickly that she was unable to settle on either, so instead she managed both, all the while burying her head into his chest.

They both held each other for what seemed like an eternity.

"You'll need to go easy on me though, Feistypants."

Anna looked up in disbelief at Kristoff.

"Will you just hush yourself, Bjorgman? Be a good patient and I promise you'll be rewarded."

Kristoff couldn't help but smile. "Yes ma'am!" he replied enthusiastically. He started to laugh a bit, but the laugh turned to coughing, which in turn made him wince in pain.

Anna stayed by his side well into the afternoon. A brief visit from each of the children helped to lift both their spirits, and Elsa's occasional drop-by to ice his leg and check on them both helped to ease what otherwise would have been an agonizing day for Anna. Kristoff tried to stay awake and keep conversation going, but after no more than a half-hour, he would tend to drift off to sleep again. Anna knew that he needed his rest, so when he stopped responding, she'd sit there quietly and wait for him to stir again, all the while watching the sunlight through the windows travel slowly across the floor. Servants brought her offerings of food and drink, but with the exception of tea, she found herself unable to partake.

The bone-setter came that night.

Anna had been convinced to come to dinner with her children and Elsa while Kristoff once again rested. She hated to leave him, but she also knew that she needed to be with her little ones to assuage fears and explain what was happening. It had taken her all day, but the shock of the situation had finally worn off and she was processing through the narrative of what had happened and what was to come. It would be hard to keep this man off his leg for so many weeks. He had never lost his stubborn streak, and Anna knew that she'd need to enlist the aid of every member of the castle staff to keep an eye on him, or he'd be out in the stables working on his sleigh.

At least she knew he'd be moving more slowly for the next couple of weeks.

Between talking, planning, and worrying, Anna spent most of the meal simply pushing the food around her plate, the very thought of eating made her want to wretch. The children seemed satisfied with the answer that "Pappa would be fine in a couple of days, and running around with them again by summer." Anna wasn't convinced he should be, but she also knew Kristoff would force himself to be as active as possible for the kids.

The conversation slowly drifted away from the elephant in the room to more mundane items including schooling and upcoming social events. Elsa seemed to be a particularly chatty, upbeat version of herself. Anna knew what she was doing, and appreciated every bit of it. The distraction was just as healthy for the children as it was for her.

After dinner, Anna excused herself and promised her little ones that she would be with them before bed for a bit. She found her way back upstairs to Kristoff's room all the while mulling over the events of the last 24 hours and what they meant for the long term. Deep in thought, she mindlessly reached out and opened the door to Kristoff's room.

Standing all around him were every large male member of the staff she knew. They each had their hands on him. Off to the side, the portly nurse stood with her back to the bed, eyes scrunched closed, and hands covering her ears. At the foot of the bed stood a pair of older men who looked like they had spent the majority of their lives ripping out trees by the roots. Both were pulling on Kristoff's leg.

From Kristoff's mouth came a desperate rising cry as the men moved the broken bones into place.

When Anna once again realized what was going on, she found herself to have been placed in the chair outside of Kristoff's room and Kai was waving smelling salts under her nose.

"What happened?"

"You fainted, Your Highness." Kai looked genuinely troubled.

"Where's Kristoff?" She realized how silly the question sounded the moment she asked it.

"He's in bed recovering, ma'am. The bone setters are bracing his leg so it will hold."

She remembered what had happened now and started to feel the room spin again. In desperation she tried to fight it off and stand but quickly teetered into Kai's arms.

"Ma'am, if you please, just rest for a moment. I assure you Sir Kristoff is in capable hands and you will be able to see him soon."

Anna relented. Not because of Kai's logic, not because she felt it most prudent, but rather because her legs simply refused to cooperate with her. As she sat there regaining her composure, she kept replaying the scene she had witnessed.

She had known Kristoff for ten years. Throughout that time, he never succumbed to injury. He grimaced through pain and sacrificed his comfort for his family as if it were a godly mandate. Never before this moment had she seen and heard him in such agony. And for the first time in forever, she realized that she was helpless to aid him. The cry he made still echoed in her ears and stopped her heart much like the cry of wolves would when they were on the road at night. But on those nights, he would hold her close, and while Sven was still alive, they would both deliver her safe and sound without anything more than a little extra adrenaline coursing through her veins.

But here, tonight, there was no way she could repay that favor. Her husband lay in bed, unable to walk by himself and in an agony which was able to pierce through the foggy veil of laudanum and alcohol.

One by one, the servants left the room. She knew that this meant that the setting of his bones must have been accomplished, and based on the idle chatter exchanged by the leaving servants, she assumed it had gone well.

Willing herself to stand once again, and with Kai diligently holding her steady by her elbow, she found her way back into Kristoff's room.

His countenance belied the recent event, the drugs having taken effect. Were it not for his primal cry still weighing on her heart and the wash of sweat on his brow, she might have believed that nothing had happened. His right leg appeared somehow larger beneath the blankets, likely due to the splinting and wrapping done to immobilize it.

She knew that there was no real chance he'd be very responsive for the evening, so she settled down in the chair beside his bed and resigned herself to be content with simply holding his hand.

The next week was exhausting for everyone in the castle. As Kristoff slowly regained his strength he proved to be a rather difficult patient. He wasn't particularly demanding, in fact he would much rather the never-ending intrusions of nurses, servants, and doctors would cease. His frustrations rose when his children were given limited visitation time, and were it not for Elsa stepping in and insisting that this was a ridiculous edict, it would have certainly resulted in an all-out war. As his energy returned, he became more and more frustrated that he was confined to a bed, especially when it wasn't even his own. On top of it all, he was growing mad at himself for not checking the strapping on his sleigh. He knew better. He also knew that because of his carelessness, he was causing the entire castle to work harder than they should have. To him, this was akin to a punishment.

Anna tried desperately to divide her time between her children and her husband, but always felt guilty of ignoring one party when spending time with the other. She barked orders at the servants in a most unusual way, and were it not for her long standing positive relationship with the castle staff, they might have revolted. Her nerves made her unable to eat, and she was terrified that she was fighting off an illness, held at bay by naught by sheer determination. On nights she didn't immediately pass out from exhaustion, she lay in her bed alone, weeping softly for what seemed like hours.

Elsa found herself in one of the busiest times of year, what with making preparations for all of the events and travel which accompanied the upcoming spring thaw. But in addition, she was trying to cover all of Anna's regular responsibilities either by herself or through delegating them to others she trusted. Over the years, she and Anna had worked together so closely that the work offered up by Anna's proxies never were met with complete satisfaction, so for all but the most mundane of tasks, Elsa powered through by herself. Otherwise, she looked with helplessness on her sister and brother-in-law. There was really nothing her special powers could do, save to help keep Kristoff's leg iced and to entertain her niece and nephews. It had been so long since she had to deal with the emotions of loss and helplessness, and it was common for there to be tendrils of ice surrounding her when she was alone.

It was late February. The days grew inexorably longer, but the nights still dominated Arendelle. It was too early for there to be any real hope of spring coming soon, though the rhythm of the larder stores and shrunken woodpiles suggested differently. The northern lights danced across the sky with a particular brilliance as Anna sat in the window-seat of her bedroom. Her tears had all dried up. She was so impossibly tired, but sleep evaded her. Instead, her mind was burdened by incessantly running over the events of the last few weeks. Kristoff's departure, the plot she and her sister devised and implemented, the horror of thinking that her husband was injured beyond repair, the burden of the past week; it was a maelstrom of "what if's" and "should have's."

Still, there was something more, something troubling that she seemed to have missed. It was as if there were a holiday that had been passed over.

She looked out toward the horizon and watched as the lights seemed to come down and touch the tops of the mountains. It had been so long since she just took the time to watch. It was mesmerizing, and though the dominant color was green, purples and reds blended in quite markedly. She remembered that Grand Pabbie had told her about how to read the colors of the lights as omens.

Her heart stopped.

"I'm pregnant."


End file.
